ORGANIC CHEMISTRY, ITS USE TO VETERINARY MEDICINE. G65 
been demonstrated by him to exist. This being the case, it 
is fair to infer that alcoholic fluids -and the allied substances 
are similarly determined, and then we can easily account for 
the peculiar condition of liver called “ drunkard’s liver.” 
ee That the removal of bile from out of the body is of con¬ 
siderable importance, is unquestionable, since by its with¬ 
drawal the blood becomes depurated. It is formed from the 
effete nitrogenised tissues, and is often found very complex 
in its nature. Tiedemann and Gmelin enumerate no less than 
twenty-three different substances met with by them in ox 
gall. How many of these were formed by the processes of 
analysation resorted to, being products rather than educts, 
possibly cannot be told. But this complexity will not so 
much surprise us, if we view the liver as an excretory as well 
as a secretory organ. It aids in the elimination of carbon and 
hydrogen from the system. These elements are naturally given 
off from the lungs in the form of carbonic acid gas and watery 
vapour; but if the lungs from diseases are unable to perform 
their healthy office, the liver is then called into increased 
action, and having more than its ordinary duty to perform, 
this organ, too, becomes implicated. In this way, possibly, 
its fatty degeneration may be explained, from the accumula¬ 
tion of the elements of fat, carbon and hydrogen in it.” 
Passing from the diseases of the digestive to those of the 
urinary system, he remarked that “ the formation of urinary 
calculi w T as to be traced to the metamorphosis urea undergoes 
when in contact with water and mucus, by which it becomes 
converted into the carbonate of ammonia, which compound, 
acting on the lime salts, excreted by the vessels of the kidney 
a carbonate of lime—the general constituent of these concre¬ 
tions in the herbivora—is found.” Thus, gentlemen, you see 
the important part which chemistry plays both in the normal 
and abnormal condition of the body, proving thereby that its 
study, as previously remarked, must receive a fair share of 
your attention. 
Upon such foundations as anatomy, physiology, and 
chemistry, you have to raise the top stone of the temple, 
pathology. The principles of this important part of medical 
science will be taught you in the lecture-room, the application 
of these has to be acquired in the infirmary, and perfected in the 
country, after you have ceased to be pupils of this institution. 
Indeed, to excel in “ the art of treating disease,” you must 
continue students to the close of your professional career. 
While here you will but begin that system of observation and 
reflection upon the ever varying phenomena of abnormal 
action present in the several stages, types, and forms of 
vol. xxv. 4 u 
